Day 69: 3,000 Smiles

I’ve made a solid dent in my cross country journey - over 3,000 miles. About a thousand more to go before the ocean! If I were biking across the south (which I am very happily not in this summer heat), I’d have finished a couple hundred miles ago.

The Edge

Today I biked along the edge of the plains and the edge of a thunder storm. Tomorrow I head into the mountains and leave the plains (and hopefully no storms 🤞).

I got up on the earlier side as I wanted to check out a coffee shop I’d seen yesterday and still get most of my miles done before it got hot. I got a latte and a cinnamon roll fresh from the oven. There were great arm chairs to lounge in and lots of plants. I could have happily sat there all day, but knew I’d regret not biking in the cooler part of the day, so I moved. Eventually.

There was only one town along the way today, so I stopped in to stock up on groceries and get some lunch. I’m not sure what the food situation will be in Glacier, so wanted to start pretty well stocked. I got a chocolate milk and tuna sandwich for lunch, which I enjoyed at a shaded picnic table in the park across the street.

When I was at the grocery store, one of the folks working there got a weather alert about Thurber storms. The skies were getting cloudy, but not ominous, so I hit the road. I occasionally got rained on with massive, cold rain drops, which honestly felt good in contrast to the heat, though ominous. I heard thunder rumbling to my west, but clear skies remained ahead. I got to the junction where I was hoping to head a bit further west and have a shorter day tomorrow, but I couldn’t get a hold of the campground - dead phone - and that’s the direction of the storms, so I took the sure thing at a campsite a mile off route into town.

The owner, John, gave me a tour and a beer on my arrival. I was hanging out in the Gazebo when a Swiss couple rolled in on their bikes headed east. We exchanged the usual advice on our respective roads ahead, and then they headed into town for the evening. I’m pretty tired, so hung back and researched and read. There’s also a family staying here with a very bored and talkative teenage son who entertained me for a while.

Tomorrow, I head into Glacier where I’ll take a few days to hike and explore. Word on the street is cell service is pretty spotty there, so I may not be posting as regularly.